Elevator car enclosure



y 1940. c. c. CAMPBELL ,075

ELEVATOR GAR ENCLOSURE I Filed Sept. 30, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jgly 2, 1940. c. c. [CAMPBELL ELEVATOR CAR ENCLOSURE Filed Sept. 50,v 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 olll! 3 4!!i zlflllllilivliilllllll INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented July 2, 1940 UNITED STATES ELEVATOR OAR ENCLOSURE Chester Clifton Campbell, West Orange, N. J., assignor t Otis Elevator Company, New York, N. Y., a; corporation of New Jersey Application September 30, 1938, Serial No. 232,633

1 Claim.

The invention relates to the construction of elevator car enclosures.

Elevator cabs are now commonly constructed with highly finished and expensive panel walls. In the use of these cabs, it was found that the bottom six or eight inches of the panels became scratched and scarred by'the feet of the passengers and by cleaningof the car floors, while the remaining portions of the panels remained comparatively unscarred. To overcome this, removable kick plates have been provided around the base of the cabs, the plates being removed where scarred, and then refinished and replaced. These plates were joined at the corners by abutting .the ends together at a forty-five degree angle. Due to inaccuracies in manufacture and assembly, the plates often had to be recut and fit on the job. This was a difiicult and expensive operation.

It is the object of the present invention to provide kick plates for elevator cabs which may be readily assembled on the job, regardless of whether or not inaccuracies in manufacture or assembly are present.

In carrying out the invention, the kick plates are made of such length that they do not fully occupy the spaces along the base of the cab and auxiliary plates are provided to take up the unoccupied spaces. The auxiliary plates fit the main plates preferably with a lap joint. Also, the unoccupied spaces are preferably at the corners so that the auxiliary plates may be in the form of angle members.

Features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and appended claim.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a front view in perspective of a full-width-opening elevator cab embodying the 40 invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged horizontal section of a portion of the cab shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the panel and column structure taken along the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view in section taken along the line 6-4 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a view of a toggle bolt employed in securing the kick plate to the car panel.

Referring to the drawings, the cab structure is shown as formed of vertical sheet metal panels I0 which are fitted against the columns II and secured thereto as by bolts I2. The cab structure rests on the elevator car platform I3, the panels being secured to angle bars I4, in turn secured to the platform. The panels and columns are secured at their upper ends to the top [6. I

Along the lower faces of the panels are secured removable sheet metal kick plates H. The bottom edge of each kick plate rests on the car platform. The top I 8 of each kick plate is bent at an angle to the plane of the front surface, and abuts the panel wall. The intermediate columns are notched at .20 to receive the tops l8 of the kick plates so that the kick plates fit tightly against the panels.

Thekick plates are attached to the panels by means of toggle bolts 2|. Wood spacing blocks 22 are arranged between the kick plates and the panels and are provided with apertures 23 large enough to receive the wings 2d of the toggle nuts in collapsed condition. These spacing blocks are glued to the kick plates with the apertures 23 aligned with the apertures-26 in the kick 90 plates for the toggle screws. Square apertures 25 are provided in the panels large enough to permit passage of the toggle nuts therethrough. These apertures are formed by punching so as to leave flanges 28 at the top. In assembling, the screws are inserted in apertures 26 in the kick plate and the nuts are screwed on and inserted in collapsed condition in the apertures 23 in the wood blocks. The nuts are then inserted through apertures 25 in the panels and the screws pushed in to release the nuts. The wings 24 of the nuts are biased by spring 21 to extended position, as shown in Figure 5, so that, upon the nut emerging from the aperture 25, the wings open. By pulling out on the screw with the wings beneath flange 28 so that the nut cannot turn and turning the screw in a direction to take up on the nut, the kick plate is fastened to the panel.

The end of each side kick plate at the front end of the car abuts the front column. Each side plate is of a length such that a space exists between the other end of the kick plate and the rear corner column. Similarly, the rear kick plate is of a length such that a space exists between each end of the plate and the rear corner column toward which such end extends. A corner kick plate 30 is provided for each rear corner to cover these spaces. This kick plate is of an angle construction with the legs 3| of the angle of sufficient length to lap over the ends of the side and rear plates. The top 32 of kick plate 30 is of a width to abut the cab panels, the height of the plate being such that the top fits over the tops of the side and rear plates. Thus lap joints are provided between the corner plates and the side and rear plates.

The corner kick plate is formed by bending a sheet of metal at right angles and, with the top edge slit down at the corner, bending over these edges to form the top flanges. The space at the corner is filled in by a filler plate welded to the top flanges and ground smooth. The corner plate is secured to the panels by toggle bolts similar to the manner in which the side and rear plates are secured except that the spacing blocks at the ends of the side and rear plates may serve as the spacers. The wings of the nuts are held together and the bolts inserted at an angle to start the nuts through the apertures in the panels. With this construction, the toggle bolts for such ends of the side and rear plates may be omitted. A slot 33 is provided in the corner column to receive the top corner of the corner plate.

With this construction, the kick plates may be readily fitted to the car panels. Sufficient overlap between the corner plates and the side and rear plate is provided to allow for any inaccuracies in manufacture and assembly of the car frame and panels. Thus any cutting and fitting of the kick plates at the corners in the assembly is obviated.

When the bottom of the cab walls becomes scarred or worn, the screws of the toggle bolts are withdrawn and the kick plates removed. The cab structure remaining is intact and untouched so that the elevator car need not be withdrawn from service. Further, the appearance of the panels is not unsightly when the kick plates are removed as the spacer blocks come off with the kick plates. Upon the kick plates being refinished, they are fastened back in place in the manner previously described.

4:!) Although the corner plates have been described as applied only to the rear corners, it is to be understood thatthey may be equally applied to front corners under conditions where the cab is constructed with a return at such corner.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

In an elevator cab having a plurality of sides made up of panel sections arranged between vertical corner posts and set back from the faces of said posts, and having side kick plates between said posts along the base of said panels, each plate having a top portion bent inwardly at right angles to its face to abut the panel and each plate being shorter than the distance between the corner posts between which it extends, wood blocks for spacing said kick plates from said panels, said wood blocks being glued to the sides of said kick plates on the inside thereof so as to be removable with the plates, toggle bolts for securing said kick plates to said panels, said toggle bolts extending through aligned apertures in said plates, spacing blocks and panels, said plates being secured in position to provide space between adjacent ends of the kick plates at the corners, angle kick plates for covering said spaces at the corners, each angle plate having a top portion bent inwardly at right angles from each side thereof, and filled in at the corner and being of such dimensions as to fit over said side kick plates to provide lap joints, and toggle bolts for securing said angle plates to said panels.

CHESTER CLIFTON CAMPBELL. 

